Upcycling?

[marcyleecorgan]

I feel like we have a massive thread for just about everything else budget-wise... but not this topic!

Does anyone else try to focus on upcycling items?


Recently our city has been having some dramatic changes to the recycling program, and currently they are just stockpiling it (which is technically a landfill!), so every time I go to toss something in the blue bin, I have to stop and ask myself, is there a way I can USE this thing to divert it from the waste stream????

Thoughts? Examples?

 

[krysenchips]

I do the following:

• save the paper based egg cartons and use them for seed starters every spring
• take quart size milk jugs and cut off the handle area to make scoops for dirt, compost, kitty litter scooping (requires extra holes) and dog food.
• reuse toilet paper and paper towel rolls for cord management
• used old lysol wipe containers to hold plastic grocery bags to use as 'poop' bags for the animals.
• Jam jars get saved for notions in the craft room. They are just the right size to hold safety pins, buttons, and ribbon scraps.

I'm pretty sure I do more, but these are the most common ones.

 

[Hikergirl]

I do try to keep any jars or containers (glass or plastic) that food comes in and reuse them, but my cabinets are getting full.
I am also trying to figure out what to do with the 40lb kitty litter tubs that I have piled up in the garage. Even though they would normally go into the recycle bin it seems like such a waste, it takes energy TO recycle and they are nice heft buckets so they can be used for something else.

 

[stindall]

I do try to keep any jars or containers (glass or plastic) that food comes in and reuse them, but my cabinets are getting full.
I am also trying to figure out what to do with the 40lb kitty litter tubs that I have piled up in the garage. Even though they would normally go into the recycle bin it seems like such a waste, it takes energy TO recycle and they are nice heft buckets so they can be used for something else.

When we lived in Indianapolis I often saw people who had bikes had attached them as a makeshift cargo carrier. Might be worth offering up on Craigslist or facebook or something like that.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

If your city has a Freecycle page, consider listing excess plastic tubs and other such items on that site for your neighbours! Especially once gardening time begins...

 

[AquamarineSteph]

Not a big step in the right direction, but with the cold weather we've been having, I've been using cardboard tubes from toilet paper and paper towels as the base for bird feeders. Eventually it has to hit the trash, but only if it doesn't fall apart first.

 

[Dakota731]

Great thread idea! Reading an article on recycling a few years ago made me think twice before throwing things in the bin. Much more of what we think is recycled is thrown in a landfill, and the costs to the environment with the recycle trucks making extra pickups is often more wasteful than just pitching something in the trash. One of the quotes was that often recycling is more of a feel good idea than a real practicality. The best thing you can do instead is buy less junk and upcycle what you have!

 

[Judique]

I was at WDW last week and when the Mouse keeper came to my room to remove the trash, she emptied both the trash and recycling bin into one big black garbage bag. I was staying in a villa.

 

[Sadie22]

On one of the tours at MK, it was explained that all discards are sorted at a central facility so the recycling goes to the proper place, but this also allows the retainers or other valuables that are thrown away on food trays to be found and returned.

 

[hsmamato2]

Hmmmm this is something I think about too..... for now I reuse most big bottles in the house for emergency water supplies(filled with chlorinated tap water they're a good supply to easily build for wash water etc in emergencies) I was saving every glass jar with a metal lid that came thru the house to reuse to store things,but I ran out of shelf space so no more.... RIght now I'm 'upcycling' my sons old waistpack...I was gonna buy a new, cute one for a trip,and then I decided it would be more fun to embroider a fantastic design all over it and use it! (I'm thinking mickey shaped swirls in rainbow colors) I upcycle all old towels and fleece items as dog beds.... I don't know....I also upcycle certain clothes which need refreshing by dyeing them a different color...(like my baggallini travel purse...it went from old dull green to eggplant purple with green accents- new life!) or my faded sweatpants that I dyed grey and I still wear them four years later to the gym.... I save all buttons off discarded clothing too(just like Grandma lol) for projects and other clothes...

 

[prprincess]

I save plastic takeout containers and my family uses them after holiday meals because we always have leftovers.
My youngest wears my oldest's hand me downs, and hubby and my oldest share a wardrobe.
Any time I'm redecorating/updating a room at home, I oftentimes don't buy new and just refinish or spray paint furniture and or photo frames. I have also repurposed old curtains to use as shower curtains. I could go on and on with the home decorating one! I mentioned this to a friend and she was amazed--she'd never even noticed that what I had wasn't new and was just redone!

 

[barkley]

I upcycle all old towels and fleece items as dog beds

with fleece pajama bottoms/lounging pants-when they get too short (through shrinkage or kid height changes) but still fit one of us in the household I will cut them off just below the knees to continue wearing them, then I take the cutoff portion and cut it into dust rags (they work SO WELL-and are soft so they don't scratch wood).

I save plastic takeout containers and my family uses them after holiday meals because we always have leftovers

I do this too-I especially like the containers kfc has taken to using. the lids fit tight and they come in a variety of sizes. when dd spends a night and needs to take a lunch with her it's always in these b/c i'm fine with not getting them back.

My youngest wears my oldest's hand me downs, and hubby and my oldest share a wardrobe

we have revolving 'ownership' of t-shirts in our family. it's gotten to the point where since everyone wears either the same size or likes them baggier that if someone has decided to purge their closet it all goes into box for everyone else to pick and choose from. I've gotten dd to bag hers and bring them when she visits b/c it seems like she and ds end up liking the same video games/anime but at different times so he's often thrilled to get something she is not into anymore and she is thrilled to get some of his (and we get some back and forth as well). I've got a decent supply of jeans that ds outgrew that fit me.

 

[SC Minnie]

We use the small square kleenex tissue boxes as grocery bag holders in the bathroom for when we scoop the cat boxes. I have an oblong basket on the back of the toilets that hold these boxes, a box of tissues, and an extra roll of TP.

We save TP tubes and fill them with lint from the dryer and use them as fire starter in the fire pit.

 

[barkley]

We save TP tubes and fill them with lint from the dryer and use them as fire starter in the fire pit

dh thought I was the only person 'crazy' enough to save dryer lint! I've got a dozen or more plastic coffee containers filled with the stuff and we use it for the identical purpose. it is the BEST fire starter, and when people see how quickly it ignites and how well it burns it acts as a cautionary to them to make sure and empty those lint traps on their dryers after every load.

 

[SC Minnie]

dh thought I was the only person 'crazy' enough to save dryer lint! I've got a dozen or more plastic coffee containers filled with the stuff and we use it for the identical purpose. it is the BEST fire starter, and when people see how quickly it ignites and how well it burns it acts as a cautionary to them to make sure and empty those lint traps on their dryers after every load.

We had been using other stuff for fire starter and I saw this tip on Pinterest or something several years ago and tried it. DH thought I was nuts too. LOL. But it works great.

 

[Dakota731]

I was at WDW last week and when the Mouse keeper came to my room to remove the trash, she emptied both the trash and recycling bin into one big black garbage bag. I was staying in a villa.

Huge university I used to work at did that too. Made us feel like we were doing good, but janitor said college wasn’t required to recycle like individuals were at home so everything just goes in the dumpster.

 

[barkley]

Huge university I used to work at did that too. Made us feel like we were doing good, but janitor said college wasn’t required to recycle like individuals were at home so everything just goes in the dumpster.

the university near us has a recycle container next to each garbage can AND a designated spot for pizza boxes. I always figured it was so the cardboard could be crushed separately until a friend that works there clued me in that the janitorial staff figured out that 9 out 10 of the students don't pull off these little proof of purchase coupons the local pizzeria (that delivers to the college) tapes on the box lids-so they came up with the idea of having all the boxes piled in one place so THEY collect the coupons and have periodic departmental pizza luncheons

 

[marcyleecorgan]

the university near us has a recycle container next to each garbage can AND a designated spot for pizza boxes. I always figured it was so the cardboard could be crushed separately until a friend that works there clued me in that the janitorial staff figured out that 9 out 10 of the students don't pull off these little proof of purchase coupons the local pizzeria (that delivers to the college) tapes on the box lids-so they came up with the idea of having all the boxes piled in one place so THEY collect the coupons and have periodic departmental pizza luncheons

Waste not, want not.... I like when people share coupons! Silly students, that's just free money sitting there...